jury duty for college student

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son just received a summons for Jury duty, he is a junior in an out of state college, he is not even 21 (he is not legal to drink, but can determine someone's fate). Obviously, he can't do it, just thought it was so weird. Did this happen to anyone else?

Everyone in Boston gets those. We’d just punt it to our study abroad semester and then get out of it later.

[Anonymous]

The first time I was called and was seated on a jury was in undergrad. There was no getting out of it for me. I was called in the county I attended college.

I’ve since been seated on 2 more juries and called to jury duty 6 times fed and state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I think is odd is that at 18 you can die for your country but not drink a beer. If you can vote, you should be able to be on a jury.

This is such a stupid trope. Only low IQ people think this way.

What does one have to do with the other? At 18 you can die for your country but you cant do a LOT of things. What's so special about ... beer?

Idiot.

18 is a legal adult in the United States, which means, you can make adult decisions and be held accountable as an adult. You can vote, join the military, enter into binding agreements, such as apartment leases or purchasing a vehicle, marry without parental consent, legally change your name, Apply for credit cards and loans in your own name. However you must be 21 purchase alcohol, nicotine products (some states), to purchase a handgun from a licensed dealer and gamble in a casino. It is very odd that you can be 18, join the military, be issued a weapon, but you cannot have one for personal use. You can serve in the military and have a been while stationed in Germany, but not home in the US. It's odd.

Pondering that does not make one an idiot.

Missing from your list is driving. Why not allow casinos at 16, since that’s when you can get a license.

Anyway, Different ages for different activities make sense. Basically, at 18 you can do everything required to live as an adult, but the 21+ things are generally considered vices that no one needs, so no real incentive to give people the right to do it as soon as possible.

NP. If such laws are based on a belief that 18-year-olds aren't mature enough to make those decisions for themselves, then the same rationale would indicate we shouldn't hold them criminally responsible to the same degree as older individuals. And would also suggest they shouldn't have the same ability to enter into significant legal contracts, including military service.

If it is based on risk, then why is a narrow, young age range the only instance where we do that? Why not ban other demographic groups from certain activities if a given group carries a significantly elevated risk? e.g., 80 year olds have higher rates of fatal accidents than teens- why don't we ban them from driving or at least give them restricted licenses?

[Anonymous]

My high school senior was just called- she has a really high number so we decided to keep it and not risk being rescheduled for during a summer trip or something like that. Seems a bit crazy though. I am pretty sure she won’t need to report because of the high number but we will see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I think is odd is that at 18 you can die for your country but not drink a beer. If you can vote, you should be able to be on a jury.

+1 Not odd for an adult to be called for jury duty. In MoCo, you can just check the box that you're living out of state (there's also a place to upload attachments that show you're living elsewhere.) This is not a rare occurrence.

[Anonymous]

OP - have him write back and ask to be excused. Done.

[Anonymous]

I know it was a bajillion years ago, but it happened to me. I got to delay because I was called at home but away at school. But the delay was summer, when I had a great paying job that I really needed to get me through the school year. I was mad about losing out on all that money (I ended up getting on the case and it took 3 weeks). But honestly, I know it’s important and it was a good experience to have.

[Anonymous]

What is weird about it? If you are a young offender you would want a jury of your peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I think is odd is that at 18 you can die for your country but not drink a beer. If you can vote, you should be able to be on a jury.

+1

At 18, you can get married, enter into legally binding contracts, such as buying a house, die for your country, vote. So yes that means you can be on a jury. It used to be the 18-year-olds were mature enough.

As an aside, if you’re 18 and can do all the things I listed above, you should also be able to buy a beer.

[Anonymous]

It's not weird. My DD is a college senior and was summoned last year. They allowed her to reschedule once, and she appeared in the summer when she was home for the break.